president obama unveils his candidates for america's top security jobs creating uproar over a possible ship compound on policy and fears of a bush era revival at the cia. halfway through the u.k.'s coalition government marks midterm with an enormous to do with leaving manny in the sturdy head britain deeply unimpressed. as they have google visits north korea the spy washington's criticism we will look at whether the internet giant has any chance to engage with a reclusive nation that remains under u.s. sanctions.

one pm in the russian capital you're watching r t with me marina joshie. president obama has rounded out his national security team for approval by the senate is nominated former senator chuck hagel as the pentagon hand and counterterrorism adviser john brennan to leave the cia the picks have sparked speculation that obama is actually trying to kill two birds with one stone. now explains by appointing chuck hagel as defense secretary president obama is arguably trying to change the perception that he has embraced bush administration national security policies because after four years of militaristic foreign policy that's most people see it chuck hagel former senator from nebraska vietnam war veteran as being one of the very very few u.s. politicians who opposed u.s. military expansion and who dares to question and dissent from washington orthodox

and foreign policy one of them tested it with their two publicly point out that the u.s. and israel are separate countries and american interests should trump israeli interests when they conflict and that's a subversive thing to say here in washington could be a career killer yet a catered for direct negotiations with hamas he condemned the power of the pro israel lobby in washington here's one of his statements to that effect the political reality is that the jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here i have always argued against some of the dumb things they do because i don't think it's in the interest of israel i just don't think it's smart for israel needless to say his nomination for the position of defense secretary has incurred a slew of objections for the past three weeks different interest groups have been running attack as on t.v. saying things like he's soft on iran and he's a bad choice for the job go on like the vast majority of us politicians who keep repeating the all options are on the table mantra has allowed himself to say

outright that attacking iran is a stupid idea is nomination is seen as a bold move on president obama's part and it's an important decision image wise for the president as possible changing foreign policy but many fear that could deliver that change in full size. more than substance because there's only so much one person can do in washington speaking of the other person along with chuck hagel president obama nominated his counterterrorism adviser john brennan as the next director of the cia john brennan has been in charge of some of obama's most controversial policies including the targeted assassinations program one where the administration determines who will be marked for execution without any due process oversight or transparency is the man who's been in charge of president obama's kill list last year john brennan claimed that the u.s. drone program caused no civilian deaths in pakistan over the prior year which was an outright lie by so many. add to that the fact that as the bush era cia official

mr brennan had endorsed torture and rendition and also was advocated bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program and we can see why he is the most fit for the job as the head of the central intelligence agency which over the years has evolved into a paramilitary force the logic some see behind nominating hago and brennan for these top national security positions is that when accused of being hawkish the president can say does my defense secretary lew kokesh to you if we choose the being soft he can point out his new cia director who can be accused of anything but being soft. my colleague bill dodd spoke to former cia officer ray mcgovern who believes obama security nominations may serve as a counterweight to each other. i served nine cia director john brennan would have to be the worst. he is an open add because of what is called extraordinary rendition kidnapping torture black prisons illegal eavesdropping

and hillis from these drone that they're so proud of flying over places like hockey style and almost compelled to conclude that there is really. real profit corporations in the profiteering on these and less wars and in contrast to this the nomination for defense secretary that is very different in character in nature seen by many as a pacifist what do you make of the future of u.s. foreign policy if indeed haig will go to his top man in the defense child the difference between hale and his predecessors is this a girl who's been there done that ok hagel served in war he was an infantry noncommissioned officer wounded twice to two purple hearts he knows what war is like that means the difference and when haig will says he would be very very

careful about employing our forces in fool's errands such as afghanistan god help us iraq he's going to be a worry stand up against people like brennan who don't know the half of it and who never served our countries on forces nobody's attitude towards israel he's been accused of speaking out against the influence of the israeli lobby there in the us is that something that will be a stumbling block for his nomination agle famously said one time i'm not the senator from israel i'm the senator from america. does that make good sense on the face of it would somebody be open to criticism for that kind of the you know it shows it shows how delicate this question is in our country that he can't even speak about the jewish lobby or say that he's the senator from the united states and not from israel without being criticized for what this that tell you about the power of the israel lobby. well the nomination of john brennan as

head of the cia is also under scrutiny in today's edition of breaking the sabbath and as always every martin pulls no punches describing the conversely surrounding the choice so watch the show at eleven thirty am g.m.t. here on r.t. . the white counterterrorism policies have gone a little something like this shoot first ask questions later and answer to no one but you phrase for which we should thank john brennan in fact he coaches obama every terror tuesday on how to assassinate around the world this is the number one advisor overseeing the drone kings kill list john brennan's nickname is the assassination czar for godsake and this is the guy who is ushering this country through the next phase of the war on terror. one hundred eighty promises in just over two years left to prove they are not all anti the ruling coalition has used

a rare joint appearance to pat itself on the back and pledge war tough decisions for an already of sturdy had britain are the center for has more on the mid-term review. prime minister david cameron and the deputy leader the kurdish and nick clegg giving one of their rare joint public appearances together to deliver this mid-term review it was an awkward appearance it was really really difficult watching there were red faces several awkward pauses there were these really embarrassing it was certainly i think rare public to integrate into somebody would say of the days before and that's probably quite a good thing this is something up we're halfway through the coalition now of course a huge question was whether the coalition again to be breaking up whether they're going to stay together the main message from the key leaders was presenting a united front that they're in this for the full five years of course their plans

that they laid out the next steps that are going to follow already being criticized by the opposition who says this is and he promises no real substance here you know there was a lot of summing up we're going to get the details of this sort of bulk mid term or the in the coming weeks that some of the things that they thought touched upon that they feel they've achieved and among the things like the welfare reform the education reform you know you cast your mind back to what that actually entailed we saw these huge protest movements a hike in the university fees the unit he's out reagan speech in london you know i think when you get this bulk of detail like this some he certainly seems to be brushed eva as i said a little bit awkward and it was very noticeable that people were laughing genuinely as i was sort of met with a kind of a nice silence in some part saying you know this is no laughing matter it's a very serious point in the coalition there are big questions for the future of this and big question still remain every time they give an appearance like this we

also about europe and people trying to glean a bit more information and you know it is quite short on substance i think a lot of people are just behaving the plans that were laid out today in the. getting to be better received in the prime minister's chicks were a bit fake a little bit of a closer look at the detail of what the coalition has achieved or not as the case may be here's my colleague for you boy. well it does look like the private pension could be going extinct that's according to one prominent pensions expert here in the u.k. he says that by twenty fifty they could be wrong because it turns out that just twelve percent of young people in their twenty's and thirty's are saving for their retirement so we've got a lot of young people in the u.k. who aren't thinking about their pensions a tour and that's leading to concerns over potential pensions gap in the future the sad reality is that young people nowadays they have a lot of very immediate financial pressures on their plate you know with austerity

measures in full swing with the financial crisis with young people on very low wages having to live with a very high cost of living at the same time they could have debts in the form of university fees that they have to pay off if they're lucky they'll have a mortgage but the the truth is is that a lot of young people have all these very needy and precious and so they just don't have time to think about putting money away for thirty forty years down the line that money that they might not see again and there's a double sort of irony in this because by the timing that they retire the pension age is going to be at least sixty eight and there are reports saying that some people have said that well if the pension age is going to be sixty eight we might not live that long so why save for it so it is quite a grim picture at the moment. well more financial problems in europe as medics hit the streets of madrid after a government decision few private eyes parts of the health care system to help

breathe life into the country's recession plagued economy. so the chavis recovers from surgery there is speculation as well he's on the edge of a political crisis we're in for it on that and more a later in the program. we've

. welcome back you're watching our view live from moscow now one of the world's most reclusive countries north korea has had a rare high profile visit from the u.s. by eric schmidt chairman of the online search giant google the private trip has already prompted speculation about the company's intentions to engage with pyongyang it's also drawn condemnation from washington that's looking to punish

eastern north korea following its recent missile tests meanwhile korean authorities are reportedly engaging german exports to help prepare the country or a foreign investment dr wright of your frank from the university of indiana says economic development in north korea is still a distant dream but the big problem is actually most we really miss the receive investors it is the reluctance of western investors to actually go to those career a lot less the environment is not first pure or although the state has been trying a lot to be do have reports of investors who have difficulties good will rotate and also would change in attitude of the government. you know both the bush two specially the chinese and west those who have left the country that's for sure the biggest problem of all this the list is all over the us on sanctions this is easy actually it's almost impossible not to wildly new sanctions if you will because

almost anything is dual use the procedures will be checking whether you are not what i would say she's overly complicated because. there's also a great deal of i'm going to be about what the actual rules are and my first thing is that this is keeping the best of the rest as opposed to the big ones. online we have a story about an easy relationship between u.s. intelligence and the president of ecuador so how do you r.t. dot com to find out why brendan's chorale believes the cia will try to kill him out of the upcoming election also online. as the us come to terms with a series of mass shootings some of the lobbying americans have introduced their own holiday i've got a british asian day so i had to argue dot com for the whole story. while

was just days before the inauguration of venezuelan president hugo chavez the country's opposition is waiting for its chance to remove him from office if the ceremony is delayed due to his poor health went to caracas to find out whether the risk of political instability has changed people's perception of a country. the flames of economic fury the dead hostess spreads anger across europe well unemployment brings despair to what was once the land of opportunity life in the west once all but guaranteed a better future whether it does so today is up for debate with no end in sight to the financial crisis many are finding refuge in countries with an alternative economic model for some venezuela represents hope and new opportunities to

bolivarian republic may be a surprising choice after all it's been ranked as one of the most corrupt nations in the hemisphere is murder rate exceeds that of iraq still the world bank says venezuela draws the largest number of immigrants after argentina with one million flocking here in two thousand and ten alone the muscles who's. going to get weaker rosa is one of them after decades of struggling in the u.s. she decided to start anew in venezuela by the end that come to you completely alone you go that trying to find a new way but you really nobody helps you there nobody in caracas the helping hand came from the government a cheap loan to kickstart a small business and subsidies that enabled her to purchase this home that's why rosa and others like her see the country as a place where. you can move more freely you have more opportunities.

robust economic growth and increased spending on social projects to help create those opportunities having the state on your side in terms of the benefits is a huge thing because you don't have to worry about your basic necessities everyone has the right to universal free health care quality health care education at all levels the government provide subsidies to start up small businesses medium sized businesses they do the same in terms of housing to help people if they're coming from a country where the economic crisis is so bad they've been cutting all those benefits but as well it begins to look like a paradise that may certainly seem to be the case for those on the bottom president hugo chavez helped bring the poverty rate down from fifty percent when he took office to roughly thirty one percent last year and the u.n. says venezuela has the lowest level of inequality in latin america. it's one child has die hard supporters among the poor but what about the rich critics h. offices ilya meeting the wealthy many of whom turned out in droves to vote for his

opponent in october the contended election twenty first century socialism hasn't helped us it is her job his opponents blame his so-called socialist experiment for problems like limited foreign investment they say that it's driving businessmen and entrepreneurs out of the country. by daniel year g.'s himself a young businessman disagrees after spending twelve years in barcelona he decided to return to venezuela not just for the economic benefits he says but for the chance to partake in a different sort of future or do you go there are two very different political forces in this country one monster move towards capitalism the other is on the path of socialism in the october election the people of venezuela voted to make the country greener fairer to create more opportunities i mean in this regard many venezuelans like myself have decided to return home. and so they do showing that for some gambling in venezuela system may be worth the risk you see catherine of

r.t. venezuela. why after forty years in power a woman as well as president hugo chavez is known for his lengthy speeches and in two thousand and twelve other movers and shakers around the world have been making a name for themselves well now it's your turn to say who you think was the person of the year. right now it seems like there's a clear leader of the founder of the whistle blowing website we can leaks julian assange is on top right now with seventy percent of the vote next era devil feliks gardner who you will remember smashed man the world records when he jumped to earth on the balloon in the stratosphere and he takes twelve percent of very first person to get one billion views on you tube with gangnam style south korean rapper earth by lax attention r. t. dot com though with only ten percent eight percent of the vote goes to myanmar opposition leader on song suchi. thousands of

doctors have marched through madrid in the first spanish protest of two thousand and thirteen they were angered by the government's plans to partly private eyes the national health service and the latest move to cut the budget and dig the country out of debt but investment advisor patrick young says spain's economy is out of control. there's really absolutely nothing that can be done about the current spanish situation the government is affectively running a deficit or run to the bog nine percent of g.d.p. and every year that's a huge number than has the ten biggest deficit on the planet of any country and effectively hemorrhaging money at the moment because the budgets were made in the good old days when property markets were going through the roof not today nobody can sell a property nobody can manage to get a job and oversee the government simply doesn't have the money even for essential facilities like health care clearly there is a concern amongst the doctors but you're going to see an incredible amount of my

religious profiteering being made by the private health sector but i think actually the truth is that ultimately governments are hideously inefficient when they do large scale health provision that's the cure all certain tastes spaniards are not sure whether they're a colony calm survive in its current creaking state it. well keeping the budget under control is proving to be a had a gone the other side of the atlantic too later today artie's max kaiser explores the murky waters of america's spanning strategy. while the pentagon off the table but pentagon spending is a function of money printing it's a function of money printing because of money printing will ordinarily cause massive inflation but dead soldiers equal deflation that's why you have to look at that arlington national cemetery that's america's answer to inflation it's to deflationary forces of genocide and pentagon budget increases and killing helpless

women and children around the world that keep stuff in america cheap enough for the casino goodlike class to keep them some of them amused and distracted. violence is spiraling in northern ireland were dozens of police officers have been injured in clashes with loyalist over balfa city halls decision to restrict the flying of the union flag alison political blogger mick fielding he believes the riots are a symptom of deep social division and political failure to represent loyalist views . what we're seeing here is in northern ireland as a result of the peace process we have a government in which everyone who is elected to the parliament is part of the government and that leaves no space for parliamentary opposition and someone something like this happens that is seen by certain mostly working class suddenly

in lower middle class communities to use being provocative there is no political way of actually expressing your opposition so to some extent we're seeing just how far a difficult it is to mom age a popular protest in a situation where there is no option to change the government so to speak because the government includes everyone who ever gets elected now some other international news in brief for the for downstairs in the voicing their anger over violence against women for an eleventh consecutive day standing outside the prime minister's residence campaigners are demanding that the government punish those involved in such crimes the demonstrations were sparked by the alleged rape of a twenty one year old made by a policeman after she was robbed at an airport. james holmes the alleged gunman in a movie theater massacre in colorado last july has appeared in court for a pretrial hearing police officers testified on monday their homes carrying knives

and two semiautomatic rifles were strangely relaxing acted detached during his arrest twelve people died in the incident during the premiere of a batman movie in the town of aurora a preliminary hearing is set to last all week. well i'll go down here in a couple of minutes but fractionation of spotlight don't go away. crime is a plague of the big cities but in a tiny arkansas town of twenty five thousand it is really getting out of hand pure gold is a property crime index of more than double the national average and rape burglary and assault are also way above average per gold is

a dangerous place to live in but what's the answer to living in constant fear of criminals well the mayor thinks that the answer to that problem is to live in constant fear of the government how logical the mayor and police chief have a doorstop plan to send out police patrols with fifteen's and full swat armor to i guess intimidate the local population into submission well actually the plan is for them to stand around it ask people an important question ask them to show id the answer to crime isn't a police state sending guys out with automatic weapons and body armor around just to check people's id like it's the berlin wall or something won't do anything a guy who breaks into your house for crystal meth money isn't going to be affected by this only the good average citizens will have to show an armed thug of their id just to go buy milk but that's just my opinion.

wealthy british style sign it's time to let. the market why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines two kinds of reports.

hello again a welcome to spotlight been for the show i'd say i'll be you know a better day my guest of the program is it's younger more a. russian empire a fad and show that staying power in the russian. ok to tell the socialist

revolution many people were forced to midway they went to the west and then most of the russian nobility went to france because french was the most popular second language for the. russian arist so. after that this pushed me off of the second world war when another way of the second the way of progress the new gracious gave to friends the russian community and the presence in paris is one of the biggest in the world some of them feel themselves to be russians others say they are french of russian our religion but whatever language they consider to be their native town there comes a day when every one of them starts to look for his over brush touch on the wall of the sun is that blazing who recently finished writing the book polled a laugh or share the matter.